Astoria Facebook Marketplace Transaction Goes Awry After Robbery: NYPD

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A man robbed a vehicle during a meet up arranged through Facebook Marketplace in Astoria in late January, police said.

A man robbed the 24-year-old seller of the car at knifepoint after they arranged to meet between Newtown Road and 41st Street on Jan. 27 about 8 p.m., the NYPD said.

The 24-year-old man was not injured, authorities said, and the robber fled with the vehicle, police said.

Half an hour later, police tried to stop the car on Astoria Boulevard, but the vehicle bolted away, authorities said. Officers later found the car abandoned at 8615 Forrest Parkway and surveillance video caught a second man exiting the vehicle, police said.

The robber, suspected to be in his 20s, is five feet, six inches, tall, and weighs about 160 pounds, police said. He was last seen wearing a black bubble jacket, black knit hat, black face mask, and a gray hooded sweatshirt. The person caught exiting the car was last seen wearing a dark-colored baseball hat, gray sweatshirt, blue sweatpants, and black sneakers.

A similar incident happened on in Brooklyn on Saturday, when an off-duty NYPD officer was shot after he had arranged over social media to buy a car from someone. The officer is in critical condition.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.